A blog dedicated to the love of guns, gun restoration, repair and customization

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Affordable (not cheap) guns

I like most people, I am always looking for good guns at cheap prices. Rugers generally sell for less than other brands and you get a good value, However the Ruger 10-22 sells for way more than the Marlin model 60. In fact you can find used Marlin m 60s for aound $100 at almost any gun show. These guns were also marketed under the Glenfield name as well as other Store Branded names.I bought a rusted, beat-up model 60 at the gun show for just $50, it functioned OK, but needed a good cleaning.These guns had pressed in barrels and aluminum receivers which make rebluing the barrels too difficult to be worth the effort. I didn't get a picture of it when I brought it home, I am guessing you know what a rusty model 60 would look like.I removed the rust, sanded the stock and painted everything flat black.I then added a high rise scope mount and mounted a cheap Bushnell 6-24 x 50mm lighted reticule (red & green) scope. This will make a great after dark vermin getter...Night Stalker mini?

I bought this Ruger Security Six Blued 4" 357 revolver from a guy on SGN. He had sent it to Ruger for timing issues, Ruger no longer makes the gun or parts so they sent the gun back stating the gun was not repairable and offered a discount on a comparable GP100 (Ruger's current DA 357 revolver). I paid him $200 for it with the intent of fixing the gun and using it for home defense. The spur gear had one gear that was worn and the pawl was slipping passed it rather than pushing it into lock up with the cylinder stop.I was able to locate a spur gear and cylinder that was in near mint condition. I installed the parts and the timing was dead on. I ended up selling the gun to my neighbor's son for what I had invested, with the caveat that I get 1st right of refusal (for the same price of course!) should he decide to sell it.

Here is a picture of the cylinder, it may be hard to tell, but one of the gears on the spur has a steeper angle to it, just enough that the pawl would slip off the gear before spinning the cylinder enough to lock up

You should consider a guns with an unfamiliar names, many are just relabeled brand name guns..... I bought this 12 gauge Sears 200 shotgun for $40, it needed a refinish and trigger group. Sears did not make most of the guns they sold, they were brand labeled, made by one of the large gun makers. In this gun's case it was made by Winchester (1200). I sourced a new trigger group and gave it a 2-tone paint job & a side saddle, click here to see my post called Shotguns!

Another brand labeled shotgun, this one was made by Mossberg, sold by Western Auto Stores as the "Revelation", again I paid $40 for this because it needed some work, I added Hogue stocks and a new trigger assembly

Another Sears gun, this one with the name "J.C. Higgins", Sears used this name into the early sixties when they began using "Ted Williams" name on their brand labeled guns. This one is a JC Higgins 16 gauge bolt action shotgun, a rare design for a shotgun. Click here to see how I refinished this stock

This one is a Ted Williams 30-30, in reality it is a Winchester model 94 with a little less fit and finish

High Standards are also great buys, I used to own this Sentinel revolver, 9 shot, double action, good quality for a low price.

The Savage 110 (& Stevens 200) are very underrated and under priced. The 70's-80's vintage 110's had cheap birch stocks and can be often found for less than the Remington, Winchester or Ruger bolt actions

Back in the 50's, 60's & 70's lots of stores had major manufacturers brand label versions of their guns.Western Auto Supply (Revalation)Montgomery Wards (Western field & Hawthorne)Sears (Ranger, J.C. Higgins & Ted Williams)Coast to CoastFirestoneBig 5Belknap HardwareCotter & CompanyJ.C. Penny (Foremost)K-MartThere are many others, here is a cross reference to show you the guns and who made them:http://www.hoosiergunworks.com/catalog/cross_reference.html